Arts & Entertainment
Baltimore arts briefs: Aug. 10
Spotlighters explore love, Hippo bingo and more


The Honey Dew Drops play the Creative Alliance in Baltimore this weekend. (Photo courtesy Jack Looney)
A country and folk fusion visits Baltimore
Creative Alliance, a collaboration of artists, performers and community members in the Baltimore area, is hosting Caleb Stine and the Honey Dew Drops on Saturday night at 8 p.m. at The Patterson (3134 Eastern Ave.).
Caleb Stine is a Baltimore country rocker who combines new and familiar tunes into his performances. He is linking up with the Honey Dew Drops, Laura Worman and Kagey Parrish, who have been featured on Prairie Home Companion.
Creative Alliance has been working since 1995 to bring together artists and audiences in order to build communities. In 2003, they opened the Patterson as multi-purpose arts center which includes two galleries, 200-seat theater, a classroom, media lab, live/work studios and a lounge.
General admission is $16 and member tickets are $11. For more information, visit creativealliance.org.
Spotlighters on love
Spotlighters Theatre (817 St. Paul St.) presents “The Things We Do: an evening of one acts,” an examination of what people would do for the ones they love, tonight at 8.
The show is a combination of comedic and dramatic moments that observe to what lengths people would go for their loved ones and how they find and push limits they did not know existed. The acts include “Protest,” where two people find a spark in an unexpected place, “Replay,” which reflects on moments we wish to regret, and “A Good Brain is Hard to Find,” which examines the relationship between monster and creator.
Adult tickets are $20 and student tickets are $16. For more information, visit spotlighters.org.
Not your average bingo night
Club Hippo (1 W. Eager St.) has its weekly gay bingo night on Wednesday starting at 8:30 to benefit the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore (GLCCB).
The night includes progressive jackpots and drinks specials all night. GLCCB promotes equality and understanding of Baltimore’s LGBT community while also providing them with services such as support groups and different events.
There are $3 drink specials all night. For more information, visit clubhippo.com
A sexy way to travel through time
Sticky Buns Burlesque performs their show “Strip Club Time Machine” on Thursday night at 9 at the Ottobar (2549 N. Howard St.).
Their fourth large-scale original production, “Strip Club Time Machine” observes burlesque and nudity through different eras. It is a feminist perspective on strip club culture.
Sticky Buns Burlesque is a Baltimore and D.C. group that routinely pushes boundaries both in burlesque and in society at large. They perform artful shows the challenges conventions while also being sexy and fun.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. For more information, visit stickybunsburlesque.com.
Theater
‘We Are Gathered’ a powerful contemplation of queer equality
Arena production dives fearlessly into many facets of same-sex connection

‘We Are Gathered’
Through June 15
Arena Stage
1101 Sixth St., S.W.
$70-$110
Arenastage.org
Aptly billed as a queer love story, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s terrific new play “We Are Gathered” (now at Arena Stage) dives deeply and fearlessly into the many facets of a same-sex connection and all that goes with it.
McCraney’s tale of two gay men’s romance unfolds entertainingly over two acts. Wallace Tre (Kyle Beltran), a tense architect, and his younger partner Free (Nic Ashe), a campy and fun-loving musician with a deep sense of quiet and peace are contemplating marriage after five years together, but one of the two isn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of imminent matrimony.
At 14, Wallace Tre (nicknamed Dubs) first learned about gay cruising via renowned British playwright Caryl Churchill’s seminal work “Cloud Nine.” It was an intoxicating introduction that led Dubs to an exciting world of sex and risk.
Soon after, a nearby park became a thrilling constant in his life. It remains a source of excitement, fun, danger, and fulfillment. The local cruising zone is also a constant in McCraney’s play.
One memorable evening, Dubs experienced a special night in the woods, a shadowy hour filled with exhilaration and surprise. That’s when Dubs unpredictably learned something he’d never felt before. That night in the park, he met and fell madly in love with Free.
In addition to being a talented playwright, McCraney is the Academy Award-winning Black and queer screenwriter of “Moonlight,” the 2016 film. He’s happy to be a part of WorldPride 2025, and grateful to Arena for making space for his play on its stage. McCraney says he wrote “We Are Gathered” as a contemplation of queer marriage and the right for same-sex couples, like opposite-sex couples, to marry anywhere in the United States.
For Dubs, it’s important that Free speak openly about how they met in the park. He’d like Free to share the details of their coming together with his supportive grandparents, Pop Pop (Craig Wallace) and Mama Jae (out actor Jade Jones). As far as they know, their grandson met Dubs at a lovely gathering with a nice crowd assembled under a swanky canopy. When in truth it was a park busy with horny guys cruising beneath a canopy of leafy verdure.
Understandably, Free is more than a tad embarrassed to reveal that he enjoyed al fresco sex with Dubs prior to knowing his boyfriend’s name. Clearly, in retrospect, both feel that their initial meeting is a source of discomfort, tinged with awkwardness.
There is a lot more to “We Are Gathered” than cruising. Dubs and Free are ardently liked by friends and family. Both are attractive and smart. Yet, they’re different. Free is quite easy going while Dubs is, at times, pricklier.
While Free is part of a happy family, Dubs’s people aren’t entirely easy. He grew up with a strung-out mother and a cold father (Kevin Mambo). Yet, his sister Punkin (Nikolle Salter), an astronaut, is very caring and close to him. While she doesn’t necessarily like “the gay stuff,” she very much wants to live in a world where there’s room for her gay brother.
Adeptly directed by Kent Gash, the production is memorable, and it’s not his first collaboration with McCraney. Ten years ago, Gash, who’s Black and queer, staged McCraney’s “Choir Boys” at Studio Theatre, another well-written and finely staged work.
“We Are Gathered” is performed in the round in Arena’s cavernous Fichandler Stage. The space is both a forest and various rooms created by designer Jason Sherwood and lighting designer Adam Honoré. It’s a world created by elevating a circular platform surrounded by charming street lamps both hanging overhead and lining the perimeter.
Ultimately, what takes place in “We Are Gathered” is a party, and something even more; it’s a paean to marriage, and a call to a sacrament.
Out & About
Justice-centered theater production comes to D.C.
Mexican Cultural Institute to host ‘La Golondrina’

The Mexican Cultural Institute will host “La Golondrina” on Friday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m. at its location on 2829 16th St. NW.
“La Golondrina” is a theater production that aims to elevate the conversation around hate crimes and the urgent need for dialogue and healing. It is also a powerful and deeply moving story that brings to the stage the emotional legacy of the Pulse nightclub shooting. The play explores that tragedy through an intimate encounter between two characters, Amelia (Luz Nicolás) and Ramón (Victor), whose connection unveils grief, love, and the enduring shadow of homophobia.
Tickets for this event are available on the Cultural Institute’s website.
Out & About
Celebrate Pride with a thoughtful book club
Second edition of ‘Books and Wine’ held at Urban Grape DC

Meet the World Image Solutions will host the second edition of “Books and Wine” on Thursday, June 5 at 5:30 p.m. at Urban Grape DC, a Black- and woman-owned winery in Washington, D.C.
The featured authors are: Beautiful Lawson, Chanele Ramos, and Pamela Coleman. All will read from works that reflect love, resilience, and queer identity across genres. For more details, visit Eventbrite.
-
Arts & Entertainment3 days ago
Shakira cancels WorldPride concert
-
District of Columbia5 days ago
WorldPride hotel bookings hint at disappointing turnout
-
World Pride 20255 days ago
Kristine W on WorldPride, drag queens, and being ‘Love Personified’
-
Movies4 days ago
‘Pee-wee’ spills the tea in outstanding new documentary